Edinburgh World Writers' Conference

The Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference, which reprises the conference held in the city in 1962, is a series of events which brings together writers from around the world to create an historic picture of the role of literature today. The conversation, created in association with the British Council, begins at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, where 50 writers will join members of the public to discuss the state and role of the novel. After Edinburgh, the conference will go on to visit 15 different cities over the following 12 months

From China Miéville's bullishness about the novel to Ma Thida's struggles against censorship, 20 keynote speeches over the course of the last year made for a fascinating conversation about the state of literature today

At the Edinburgh World Writers' conference in Kuala Lumpur, the eminent Burmese writer – imprisoned under censorship laws for more than five years – used her own experience to reflect on censorship and imagination

Under Apartheid the role of literature in South Africa was clear - it was a weapon of struggle. But after 18 years of democracy, the unpolitical has become political in its exploration of the complexities of life in a new century

Edinburgh World Writers' Conference from Cape Town: Antjie Krog says South Africa has a history, even during apartheid, of political literary engagement – a fact that proved crucial for later resistance by writers and singers. And its literature must continue to be read by government, for it inflects the anguish of reality